MOSCOW (AP) — A Japanese journalist suspected of spying has been arrested on Russia's Sakhalin Island, the top Russian domestic security agency said Tuesday.
The arrest comes amid a spike in tensions between Russia and Japan following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s August trip to the Kuril Islands, the Moscow-controlled Pacific archipelago that is claimed by both countries.
The Federal Security Service, or FSB, said in a statement that the Japanese man, who worked for the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper, was suspected of gathering information related to Russia’s defense capability on behalf of a Japanese intelligence agency.
The FSB, the main successor agency to the Soviet KGB, said the Japanese man, whom it didn’t name, was arrested as he was preparing to leave Russia. The agency said the suspect was flown to Moscow where he was put behind bars.
The FSB released a video showing masked agents in black outfits arresting the man in a hotel room and then escorting him to a plane bound for Moscow. He was then shown facing a judge at the Lefortovo District Court, who ordered him to be held in custody for two months pending the probe.
Russia's Sakhalin region includes Sakhalin Island and the four southernmost islands of the Kuril chain, which Japan calls the Northern Territories. Putin visited one of them, Iturup, in August.
The Soviet Union took the Kuril Islands from Japan in the final days of World War II and the ongoing dispute has prevented the countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their hostilities.
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Putin’s visit, his first to the islands, was “incompatible with the Japanese position on the Northern Territories” and was “absolutely unacceptable.” She said it was a further blow to already-strained ties between the two countries over Ukraine.
Moscow responded by summoning the Japanese ambassador to protest the “anti-Russia” statements by Takaichi and other Japanese officials, emphasizing that “Russia’s sovereignty and jurisdiction over the southern Kuril Islands are absolutely unshakable.”
Decades of diplomatic efforts to negotiate a settlement haven’t produced any visible results. Moscow over the years has also bolstered its military presence on the Kurils in moves that appeared to underscore its firm stance in the dispute.
In recent years, Russia has arrested a number of foreigners — mainly Americans — on various criminal charges and then released them in prisoner swaps with the United States and other Western nations.
The largest exchange since the Cold War took place in August 2024, when Moscow freed journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, fellow American Paul Whelan, and Russian dissidents in a multinational deal that set two dozen people free.
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, second left, shakes hands with Sakhalin Region Governor Valery Limarenko at an airport in Kurilsk on the Iturup Island, the largest of the Kuril Islands of Russia's fareast, on Aug. 13, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - An entrance of the Lefortovo prison is seen in Moscow, Thursday, March 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
FILE - Journalists stand next to an entrance of the Lefortovo prison, in Moscow, Thursday, March 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House publicly asked for U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle's resignation on Tuesday as she faced mounting accusations of improper conduct, and she announced within two hours that she was quitting, ending days of talk and speculation about her professional fate. Guilfoyle insisted that she would “vigorously defend” herself.
President Donald Trump's administration had said earlier Tuesday it had asked Guilfoyle to leave her post after she faced severe criticism over allegations she engaged in improper and possibly illegal conduct before and during her tenure in Athens.
That revelation came in response to a question to freshly minted White House press secretary Katie Zacharia at her first media briefing Tuesday morning. Zacharia said Guilfoyle “has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well.”
"She went to Greece. She was doing a good job, but we didn’t like what we were reading," Trump said just after Guilfoyle's resignation, which was posted on her X account. He said he had not spoken to her but "she will not be there.”
Guilfoyle’s departure comes after its possibility was previewed to The Associated Press over the weekend and Trump registered his unhappiness on Monday at reports about her alleged conduct. Those comments came a day after the AP, citing a senior U.S. official, reported that Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were “extremely pissed off” by Guilfoyle’s reported conduct.
In a series of stories dating to late last month, The Wall Street Journal has reported questionable conduct by Guilfoyle, including an alleged threat to a host country official, accepting improper gifts and services and offering to use her influence inside the Republican administration in return for the payment of a large credit card bill.
Guilfoyle addressed the accusations directly in her resignation post on X, saying, “These allegations are false, and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity.”
“I have dedicated my professional life to fighting for justice, standing up for what is right, and defending the values that make America exceptional,” she said. “I will not allow false accusations to define my decades of public service.”
In a statement released late Sunday, Guilfoyle's lawyers denied that she had done anything wrong and claimed that the money she was seeking from a Trump donor was payment for services — public appearances and speaking engagements that predate her ambassadorial nomination — that had not been paid.
The lawyers, David Schwartz and Jesse Binnall, also rejected allegations of impropriety related to Guilfoyle’s travel on private planes, saying that before every such trip she “sought, obtained and followed State Department guidance and followed the Department’s travel regulations."
They did not immediately return calls Tuesday.
After defending Guilfoyle following the first report, Rubio declined to comment publicly on the growing allegations. Last week, Rubio said: “Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador here.”
But after another report appeared later, Rubio — speaking Thursday before leaving Athens — berated journalists for asking about the allegations. He said that he didn’t know if they were true and that he would not respond if he could not confirm them.
“You guys walk around thinking that because some source told you something and you reported it, it’s the gospel. It’s not the gospel. It’s not the gospel for me. That’s not the way we do things,” Rubio said at the foot of his plane as Guilfoyle, who was there to see him depart, looked on.
A second U.S. official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said the State Department’s inspector general was looking into the allegations, which first began surfacing in the Journal late last month and have since multiplied.
The second official could not say if a formal IG probe had begun. Inspectors general often conduct informal inquiries into complaints against staffers, and many times those inquiries do not result in a full-on investigation, which can result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. The State Department has declined to comment on a potential IG investigation.
There was no immediate response to Zacharia's statement from the Greek government or Cabinet members.
Ahead of Tuesday’s announcement, Greek opposition parties had called on the Foreign Ministry to summon Guilfoyle to respond to the allegations made against her. “This, most importantly, is an issue of national dignity,” Sia Anagnostopoulou, a former deputy foreign minister, said in parliament Friday. Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis responded that Guilfoyle had been treated “the same way as every other ambassador” and argued that an official summons had not been necessary.
Hours earlier, Guilfoyle had posted photos of her meeting this week with the Spanish ambassador to Athens as well as birthday wishes for Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law, accompanied by Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night,” from the 2023 soundtrack of the movie “Barbie.”
Greece has taken on an increasingly important and influential role because of its geographic location in Southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly on energy issues as the war with Iran has spiked global oil prices. Besides the vast number of Greek-registered oil tankers that regularly ply the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, Greece is well positioned to be a pipeline conduit for liquefied natural gas imports into the Balkans and beyond.
As the U.S. ambassador to Greece, Guilfoyle had put an emphasis on energy issues, although her close association with executives in that sector was part of what got her into trouble.
The top two Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, as well as the ranking member on the House Committee for Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., have already called for an investigation into Guilfoyle.
Since late September, the Journal has detailed numerous accounts of questionable conduct by Guilfoyle. Its first report said that she had told guests at a reception that the United States could undermine the Greek government if it chose to, promoted the business interests of one particular Greek construction and energy company and allowed its lobbyist into private diplomatic meetings.
While Rubio was in Athens, the Journal reported — citing text messages — that Guilfoyle had asked a Trump donor and supporter to pay a $100,000 credit card bill just before her confirmation hearing, promising him access to administration officials if he did.
The Journal then reported that Guilfoyle had been enraged about not being invited to a Greek-themed event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this year and demanded to attend while boasting about luxury travel to France with energy company executives.
Another report, from the British tabloid The Daily Mail, said that Guilfoyle had alienated staff at the U.S. Embassy in Athens and had pushed the bounds of behavior appropriate for the top representative of the U.S. government to Greece.
Guilfoyle is a former Fox News Channel host and California prosecutor who was married to Democrat Gavin Newsom when he was San Francisco's mayor, before he became California's governor. She later was engaged to Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr.
AP journalists Derek Gatopoulos in Athens and Darlene Superville at the White House contributed.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaks during the opening Session of the U.S.-Greece Strategic Dialogue next to U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
FILE - Kimberly Guilfoyle speaks as President Donald Trump listens at a reception celebrating Greek Independence Day in the East Room of the White House, March 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - Kimberly Guilfoyle speaks during the Republican National Convention, July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - Kimberly Guilfoyle speaks as President Donald Trump listens at a reception celebrating Greek Independence Day in the East Room of the White House, March 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
White House press secretary Katie Zacharia speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
FILE - Kimberly Guilfoyle speaks as President Donald Trump listens at a reception celebrating Greek Independence Day in the East Room of the White House, March 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle speak during a dedication ceremony at the chancery of the U.S. Embassy, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Athens, Greece. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
